


A bad Idea

by Starry_Eyes_and_Skies



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, I'm still working on my writing so critique is appreciated!!, Judith & Negan bonding, M/M, Rick is dead, Slow Burn, carl bottles up his feelings, carl feels guilty, carl is 17, eventual NSFW, most of alexandria is dead tbh, my updating schedule is shaky i apologize :']
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2018-10-23 21:41:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10727805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starry_Eyes_and_Skies/pseuds/Starry_Eyes_and_Skies
Summary: After Alexandria is violently destroyed, Carl feels completely alone in the world, with none of his friends or family alive, other than Judith. He ends up looking towards the last person he thought he would for help.





	1. Everything is going to be fine

This is a bad idea.

Carl walked down the road with Judith on his back. He could see the sanctuary in the distance, right past a large hill.

This is a horrible idea.

It was a horrible idea, but Carl didn’t have any other choice. They couldn’t find anyone else, and he wasn’t going to trust any random group. Especially since Judith was with him. He probably would be okay living out on his own since it’s only his life he’d be risking, but everything he did seemed more risky with Judith. Even if Carl wasn’t sleep deprived he would still feel paranoid that a walker would pop up out of nowhere and snatch Judith away from him.

The sanctuary felt like it was getting farther away, he should’ve snagged a car or something when he left. Rick had handed Carl his sleeping sister and told him to get as far away from Alexandria as possible. So he did, but by the time he got back…

 

5 days ago

A large group of people had practically broken down Alexandria’s back wall and were attacking outside, lighting buildings on fire and shooting anyone they saw. Rick had run inside after only about ten minutes of fighting`

He told Carl about the walkers they had with them. There was probably 50 of them on some kind of chain with makeshift metal helmets.

“No dad, let me stay I can help!” Carl yelled. Rick was quickly packing some things up in a large backpack. Diapers, cans of food, and baby wipes.

“No, we can handle this, but things are getting too messy out there. Someone needs to take care of Judith and I know you don’t wanna trust anyone else with her life.” Rick was trying to stay remotely calm, but there was a bullet wound in the forearm he was holding judith in and he was getting blood on her pink blanket. The frantic tone in his voice was starting to take over.

He carefully handed judith over to carl after giving him the bag.

“You’re gonna run out the front exit, It’s open just enough to get through. Most the fight is towards the back anyways,” Rick was walking out the door expecting carl to follow, but he wasn’t going to go along so easily.

“No! I’m not gonna pussy out and hide. I can help!” His yelling woke up Judith a bit, but she only opened her eyes a moment before laying her head back down on Carl’s chest.

“This isn’t up for debate Carl!” He sounded angry and frustrated. “You either go now or leave Judith here alone so you can go play hero!”

Carl noticed the bite in his words. He sighed and walked out the door. Rick laid a kiss on both his and Judith’s foreheads in the doorway, before running off towards the fight.

As Carl quickly walked behind the houses on his way to the gate, he wondered if there was any way he could watch Judith and help fight, but any plan that he thought up was risky or just plain stupid. He got to the gate and looked off towards the infirmary where most of the fight was contained, but right as he saw it the building went up in flames. Carl stood in awe for a moment before gathering his composure and squeezing through the gate and into the woods.

 

Judith was such a calm toddler. She made little to no noise and was entertained by the smallest things. When she woke up carl was a decent distance into the woods, so far that he couldn’t see the smoke coming from Alexandria. He and Judith sat in the soft leaves, the baby repeatedly stacking and knocking over the two cans of corn their father had packed for them.

Carl on the other hand couldn’t stop worrying about the rest of his family. Not just Rick, everybody in Alexandria. He wondered about the people in the infirmary.

Then as he was thinking through all the possible scenarios that could lead to his friends deaths, Judith threw a can at him.

“Ow, shit!” Carl’s voice was a quieter version of a yell. “Don’t repeat that.” he added quickly. She had a good arm for a three year old, carl smiled, as he rubbed his knee where the can hit.

Judith just giggled and threw the can again, this time Carl caught it and rolled it back to the toddler. So easily entertained.

They were far enough away from the road to where they couldn’t see it, but Carl knew where it was. If they can't see the road, no one on the road can see them. He wondered how long they would have to wait out there. How was he supposed to know when it was okay to go back? Was Rick going to come find him?

He wished someone had come with him. He was a loner, but being alone wasn’t always a good thing.

Well Judith was there, but that doesn’t really count.

After a while carl started to whittle what looked like a stick figure out of a branch he had seen on the floor. Judith was babbling in Carl’s lap, facing him, and pulling at his hair.

He sighed, it was starting to get dark. Neither of the two had eaten since breakfast, so Carl popped open the can of corn and let Judith eat with her hands. Carl opted to scoop bits of corn out with the tip of his hunting knife, which Judith thought was silly.

All of a sudden carl heard something going down the road. Loud tires, from what sounded like several trucks, and chains rattling.

He pulled Judith a little bit closer until the vehicle passed, so if she started to babble he could easily cover her mouth. It was unlikely that anyone on the road could hear her, but the thought made him anxious.

The fact that (at least some of) the people who had attacked them were leaving alive made Carl feel sick. He pushed the thought out of his head and packed up everything back in the bag. Judith whined as he took the corn away, he apologized, picking her up and heading towards the road. Jesus, she was getting heavy.

They walked in the woods next to the road until the got close to the front gate, it was wide open.

The sick feeling in Carl's stomach came back.

Judith laid her head down on his shoulder and her eyes started to close.

As Carl stepped closer to the gate he could see something in the dark. What looked like dozens of walkers chained to a few trees. He kept his distance, but as he focused on their snarling, pale faces his heart sank.

Familiar faces from Alexandria, people he had never met nor talked to, but people he knew. His breath quickened as he looked over the crowd.

 _Enid_.

 _Michonne_.

 _Rick_.

He felt like he was going to throw up. He quickly turned away from the dead crowd, holding Judith tight against his chest.

No, no, no, no. This is bullshit. It’s not happening, this is just a fucked up dream.

He didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t. So he pushed the tears out of his eyes and walked towards his house, trying not to wake the oblivious toddler.

There were bodies scattered everywhere, anything that didn’t have a bullet in it’s head was tied to buildings or trees. He saw the aftermath of the fire in the infirmary. It looked like a house made of charred popsicle sticks.

Carl found himself breathing heavily as he stepped into his house. It smelled like smoke, but it hadn’t been burnt itself. He went to the kitchen and opened the cabinets to pack up more food, only to find them empty. Same for the fridge and pantry. They wouldn’t have done all of this just to loot us, would they?

He locked the front door and laid Judith down one of the chairs, before running upstairs and grabbing a messenger bag from Michonne’s closet.

_Michonne_

Carl moved everything from the backpack to the messenger bag (and loaded some small toys in as well) when he got back downstairs, and cut two holes in the bottom of the backpack and stuffed a small blanket into it, in an attempt to make one of those baby carriers. Unzipping the backpack about halfway on both sides, he then shoved a paper clip into the zippers to jam them, so Judith could easily sit inside without falling out.

He kept his head busy. Judith, Judith, Judith.

Get to the Hilltop, Tell them what happened, warn them, Judith will be safe, He’ll be safe.

Everything is going to be fine.

_Michonne_

He looked down at his sister. Judith was an orphan. Carl was too.

Carl finally let himself think about everything, but he didn't want to

_Enid_

Everyone was gone. Did his dad know he was going to die? Is that why Rick sent him away?

_Dad_

Before he could think too long, he buried his face into the side of the couch and let out a long sob. Then another one. Before he knew it he was crying uncontrollably, the image of his family’s mangled corpses snarling grabbing at him had burned into his brain.

He cried until his throat was hoarse, his eye hurt, and he fell asleep.

 

Carl woke up to Judith banging a pen she had found on the floor into the coffee table. Once again, she is easily entertained.

He looked at the wall clock, it read 10:26. Time to get going. He put judith into the makeshift, baby-bag and cautiously took a few steps around the room, hoping that it wouldn’t break. Luckily, it didn’t, and Judith thought it was funny.

He hung the messenger bag across his chest, picked his hat up off of the floor, and walked out of the house.

(Although he quickly walked back inside to find Judith some sunglasses, because the sun was making her fussy.)

 

Hilltop was roughly 20 miles away, if he walked two miles an hour without stopping Carl was sure he could be there by about 9-10:00pm. So, he walked uninterrupted for two hours. He stopped to give Judith a diaper change, and then kept going.

Judith (understandably) wasn’t being such an angel on this occasion, She was whining and crying. At one point she was so loud that two roamers appeared from the woods with their eyes on her. Carl of course took care of them quickly, before deciding to walk in the middle of the road, farther away from the edge of the forest.

Carl sat down in the center of the road, and hushed Judith. Singing softly and running his fingers through her hair. She fell asleep with her face still sticky with tears, and Carl just sat for near an hour. His legs were sore and he wished that the group who attacked Alexandria had at least not stolen their vehicles.

Carl looked down at his cracked watch that he had snagged from his dad’s room. 4:52. He carefully laid Judith back in the baby-bag and put it on, before walking again.

Things continued like this for several hours, Judith would cry, Carl would take a break, Judith would play with something she found in the bag, and then Carl would get up and tough it out. By the time he arrived it was eleven at night.

But a familiar sight plagued his eyes.

Dozens of walkers. Lined up. Attached to the houses in chains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get the point across is this chapter without making it excessively long haha, but i feel like it seems rushed, maybe?
> 
> So, the idea is that the people that trashed Alexandria went to the Hilltop first, then Alexandria, and so on. Annnnd The Kingdom is in there somewhere too, but I imagine that they put a longer fight (Rip my homegirl Shiva)
> 
> And FYI next chapter picks up where the beginning of this one cut off, so it will be Carl and Judes arriving at the Sanctuary.
> 
> I really hope you guys thought it was interesting! I've been sitting on this idea for a while and already know how i want things to play out, but give me your ideas! I would love some feedback. The next chapter will be up pretty soon.


	2. The Welcome Wagon

Carl could see The Sanctuary from where he stood. It was getting closer with every step and carl still had no plan of action. Did he just roll up and say ‘Yeah, everyone is dead, can I stay here?’ 

 

Maybe they would just straight up kill him, no questions asked. They wouldn’t hurt Judith though. The Saviors are monsters, but no one _wants_ to kill a baby. 

 

Carl wasn’t as confident as he was last time he was at The Sanctuary. He knew this was it. He knew that there was no way he could win. He wasn’t coming here to kill Negan, but to beg him for shelter. What would his father think…

 

Before Carl knew it he was close to the gate. The guards looked at him and it seemed to register that he had to weapons. Carl put his arms up as a way to say he wasn’t a threat.

 

One of the guards, a tall, lean, guy with a short blonde beard, pulled a walkie talkie up to his face. 

 

“Negan?” He paused, Carl couldn’t hear what was being said on the other line.

 

“Yeah sorry for interrupting sir, that kid is here again.” Another pause.

 

“The one with the eyepatch, sir.” Carl’s breathing started to speed up.

 

“Got it.” The man said, before directing his words to Carl. “On your knees, kid!”

 

Then, Carl remembered Judith. He took her off his back and stood her up on the ground. He laid his messenger bag down as well, before doing as told.

 

“The fuck dude?” The man was just now noticing the toddler that was previously strapped to Carl’s back.

  
“Uh, Sir, he has a baby with him.” This time Carl was close enough to hear what was said on he other line.

 

“Shit, I hope it ain’t mine.”

 

Carl actually laughed a bit at the lame joke.

 

“Boss, what am i supposed to do?”

 

“Jesus numbskull, do i have to do everything for you? Have whats-her-face hold the kid. The baby, not Carl. I’ll be right down”

The other guard was shorter, but made of mostly muscle. She picked up Judith, who instantly started to babble. The lady just nodded, acting like she understood.

 

Carl didn’t talk, but he kept his eyes fixed on Judith. The male guard was circling him like a hawk, He looked like he genuinely wanted an excuse to shoot someone.

 

After several minutes of this Negan arrived outside of the gate.

 

“Well, looky here.” he said in a singsong tone. “I see you just couldn’t resist comin’ back home.”

 

The way he said  that this was Carl’s home made him a little bit sick, but he pushed it down.

 

“And you brought my favorite little girl! Looks like today’s my lucky day.” Negan smiled at Carl, had him stand up, and handed him Lucille before picking up Judith and bouncing her on his hip.

 

That’s another thing that made Carl anxious.

“Go through his bag, make sure there’s no pipe bombs or shit.” He said, without looking away from Carl.

 

The woman pulled Carl’s gun and knife out of  the bag, handing them to the other guard. 

 

“Carl, Carl, Carl. Now I know that ya’ love our bonding time, but i’m also pretty sure that’s not why you hiked your ass all the way down here.” That was Negan’s way of asking why the hell he was there.

 

It took Carl a moment to put together what he wanted to say without breaking down. He couldn’t, not here, not in front of the saviors. A lump formed in his throat.

 

“A few days ago,” Carl paused. “Alexandria was attacked. Everyone died.”

 

“What the fuck do you mean you were attacked? What’s the point of that goddamn wall y’all are so proud of?!” Negan seemed genuinely angered.

 

Carl looked down at the ground. He could feel his throat tightening and his breathing was erratic, as if he was about to cry, but, he didn’t. He faced Negan again, looking away from the ground.

 

Negan could see how much Carl hurt, and his usual joking mannerisms faded away quickly, and he turned to face the two guards.

 

“Back to your posts!” They instantly backed up to either side of the gate where they stood before. “Come on, Carl.”

 

Negan passed Judith to Carl and took Lucille, before leading them into the building.

Carl could feel the eyes of the saviors that recognized him as they walked up several flights of stairs to Negan’s room. Everything felt familiar, and memories of his failed attack on Negan came back. There was no trace of the fear he felt last time, it was different now.  Carl wasn’t scared, but instead he felt somewhat relieved to be in a safer environment. Relieved that Judith was safe (for the most part) here with him.

 

Once they got to the room Negan led Carl to the same place he had sat last time, and he put Judith down in the chair next to him. Negan handed her an unlit candle to play with. Judith immediately broke the stick in half and hit the two pieces together, enjoying the  **_clack clack clack_ ** sounds that they made.

 

Meanwhile, Carl was trying to piece together all the details in his head before speaking. Negan sat down across from him and leaned Lucille up against the couch.

 

“Tell me what you said again with a bit more detail, kid.”

 

“A huge group of people broke through the back gate, and they had walkers with them, li-like, being used as a weapon. There were at least a hundred people with guns.” Carl tried to word everything in a way that wouldn’t make him seem like a sad puppy.

 

“They were lighting houses on fire, and when people would run out they would get shot, the infirmary completely exploded. R-rick told me to leave with Judith, and hide until everything was settled, and when i came back everyone was just… dead. Some in the street, some tied to trees and buildings.”

 

Carl stopped for a second to breathe, before going on to tell Negan about The Hilltop.

 

“Motherfuck.” Was the first word out of Negan’s mouth. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, before running his hand over his beard. “The same thing just happened at one of my outposts.”

 

Carl looked to his right to see that Judith had broken the candlestick into 4 pieces, and was trying to hold them back together like a puzzle.

 

Negan picked up his radio and asked for certain people to meet him by the gate, and stood up.

 

“I’m gonna put together a crew to go scope out Alexandria and Hilltop, scavenge a bit.” He picked up Lucille and headed for the door. “I trust that you and Goldilocks aren’t going to destroy my room while i’m gone. Don’t touch anything, i’ll be right back. Try not to miss me too damn much”

 

The door closed loudly and Negan was gone. Carl thought about how quickly everything had happened, even though it had felt like a lifetime. He hadn’t gotten here more than 45 minutes ago and Negan was already running off and leaving him alone.

 

Negan didn’t seem worried in the least that it might be a trap, but he did say that the same thing happened at another place he ran. Maybe this group is attacking places run by the saviors? Like, cutting off their resources.

 

Judith still sat in the chair next to him, the candle was now broken into too many pieces to count, still trying to put it back together. Carl was starting to realize how tired he was, he probably hadn’t had more than 5 hours of sleep in the past 3 days, and he found himself nodding off in the chair.

  
  
  


Carl woke up slowly in an an unfamiliar room, the scent of laundry detergent and dust surrounding him. It registered in his mind that he was in a bed, and as his eyes opened he also noticed that the room was average sized and made of concrete. The moon lit the entire room through a single window. 

 

His brain felt cloudy, and Carl assumed he must’ve fallen asleep. The last thing he remembers is Judith playing with candles. 

 

He sat up and instinctively rubbed both his eyes (a habit that reminded him every morning of his lack of one) and realized that his bandage was gone. Not much of a loss, seeing how it had been dingy and covered it sweat. Then his thoughts did a doubletake. Judith.

 

He looked around frantically for a moment before seeing her in the bed next to him, sleeping soundly. 

 

This led Carl to checking his watch, only to find that it was nearly four in the morning. Had he really slept for almost eleven hours?

 

He stood up as slowly as possible, trying not to wake the sleeping toddler, and headed towards the door. Opening it, he saw that he was in the same hall where Negan’s room was, only a few doors down.

 

Carl closed the door and leaned against it, looking at Judith as her chest rose and fell. 

 

He guessed that Negan was going to let them stay there? Probably not for free either. Maybe Nagan wanted Carl to work for him. Doing what, Carl had no idea.

 

He laid back down on the bed, facing Judith and wrapping one arm over her and deciding to sleep until it was actually morning.

  
  


“Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty! Time to get up and function with the rest of us sorry assholes.” Carl was rudely woken by the sound of Negan’s voice.

 

Carl was quick to sit up, and tried to seem like he wasn’t upset having to get up. He looked next to him to see that Judith had opened her eyes too, and was very obviously annoyed at the bright light feeding through the window.

 

“What happened yesterday?” Carl asked, his voice still dripped with drowsiness.

 

“Well, when i got back you were taking a lil’ cat nap, so i had my guys set you up a room ‘cause you didn’t look too cozy sleepin’ sitting up.” Negan leaned against the wall, and had Lucille do the same. “Wasn’t that nice of me? I think i deserve a ‘thank-you’.” He smiled.

 

“Thank you.” Carl said reluctantly “What else?”

 

“I ended up going with the guys i sent just to check out the damage.” Negan sighed. “In all seriousness, kid. I’m sorry that this happened to you. Losing family must fuckin’ suck.”

 

Carl just turned his head and stared at the covers on the bed. Baby blue, clean and soft. He moved his bangs so they covered his eye socket.

 

“We couldn’t really scavenge much, but we shot all the dead fuckers and closed the gates. I’m thinking about having someone go back and clean all that crap up, maybe add better security and turn it into a new outpost. Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear that.” Negan waited for Carl to respond.

 

“It’s fine, I get it.” Carl didn’t want to talk about the specifics of Alexandria. “Do you have any idea who it was that’s been going after your places?”

 

“Not one fuckin’ clue. You seem to be the first real witness. Every other time we’ve seen them on surveillance cams. I put out a warning to all our camps, told ‘em to double their security and hide their hookers.

 

“And trust me, when i find ‘em you can give each and every one of those massive shits a good ole bullet in the kneecap.”

 

Carl just barely cracked a smile. He looked up from the blue covers to see Negan looking at him with his head cocked to the side. Carl also took notice of a sleepy Judith, nodding off while leaning against the headboard of the bed.

  
  
  


“Now, i’m guessing you’re gonna be staying here for a while, if you got a better fuckin’ place to be feel free to go you aren’t a prisoner or anything, but while you’re here i expect you to work with me.” Negan paced around the room, making it feel small.

 

“What do you mean by work with you?” Carl asked

 

“Grunt work, chores, makin’ me sandwiches, whatever I fuckin’ say. Same as everyone else.”

 

“So like a slave?”

 

“No, like a good little henchman.” Negan smiled again and Carl rolled his eye.

 

“Fine. Who’s going to watch Judith while i’m off doing this crap?” speaking of Judith, the toddler was still partially leaning against the headboard, but she was mostly bent to the side completely asleep. Poor kid.

 

“Watch the fuckin’ language, kid.” Negan laughed at his own joke. “We have a nice daycare type of thing. There one or two lil’ tykes like her. Which is good, growing up being the only kid in a compound will make her weird and annoying. But don’t get me wrong, I love the lil’ fuck”

 

Carl had no choice but to hope that whoever this babysitter was ended up being a ‘normal’ person, and not some psycho savior.

 

Well, Carl was kind of a savior now.

 

Kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeeee lmao, I actually posted chapter two. I literally thought i posted it on Saturday, turns out I didn't. oops.
> 
> Sorry if this is a bit slow for you guys, I didn't want it to be like: Chapter 1- everyone dies. Chapter 2- they smash lol. 
> 
> I also don't foresee an ending to this fic? Like, once i establish the relationship and everything is settled i think i'll just keep posting what happens haha. Like. . . a sitcom? That's a crappy comparison tbh, but i think you're picking up what i'm putting down.
> 
> Edit: Jesus my paragraphs look short. i promise it's just a lot of dialogue thats making it look that way lol ;-;
> 
> Feel free to give feedback and comment!!


	3. Casual Awkwardness

Not too long after Negan left, there was a knock on Carl’s door. The boy tightly scrunched his eyes closed, it had taken all of his composure not to audibly groan at having to get out of bed again. Looking at his watch, he realized it was almost eight in the morning and he had to get up and stop being a depressed bum. He pulled himself out of bed and over to the door.

 

“Who is it?” He asked, not quite wanting to open the door to a random person. Of course it wasn’t Negan. He wouldn’t knock, just barge right in like he owned the place...Which he did.

 

A sweet voice said from the other side of the door spoke up timidly   “Uh, Teresa… i don’t think you know me, but i run the childcare-facility-daycare-thing.” There was a pause and Carl got up and opened the door. “Negan said you have a little sibling I’m supposed to meet?” 

 

A short, red haired, girl in a lime green sweater walked into his room and looked up at him through thin, wire framed glasses. Carl was probably only a few inches taller, but she still had to bend her neck to look at him. Something about her reminded him of someone, and after a moment he realised who that person was. Beth.

 

They didn’t look alike in any sense of the word, their voices were different too, but the way she smiled mimicked the way Beth did. Carl didn’t let the unexpected reminder of his friend hurt him, and quickly pushed passed it.

 

“Negan passed by me when I was downstairs and asked me to bring these to you,” She said handing Carl a neatly folded stack of clothes. “He told me to come meet you and bring your sister to the kid’s room while you go get cleaned up. Well, he didn’t say it that politely, but i paraphrased. How old is she?”

 

“Oh, uh, almost three years old. She’s kind of quiet. Keeps to herself.” Carl said, gesturing weakly towards the bed where Judith slept.

 

“Aw, she’s adorable! I’m a sucker for the blonde babies.” Teresa sat on the bed and ran her hand lightly over Judith’s face, slowly waking her. Carl thought thought this was weird for a moment, but chalked it up to Teresa just liking kids.

 

“Her name?” She asked, looking back at Carl.

 

“Judith. Where exactly is the kid’s room?” He asked, not wanting to lose track of where she was for a second by sending her off with some weird ginger.

 

“You can walk with us down there. It’s on the next residential floor right below this one, high up enough to be separate from the chaos of the main floor, and away from some of the creeps that hang around down there.” She smiled and Judith was now awake, looking annoyed by everything and everyone in the room. She sat up and looked at Carl, making a rare yet adorale “mean face”.

 

“Creeps?” Carl asked, “What’d you mean by that?” 

 

“Oh, uh, A few closeted pedo’s happen to lie inside these walls. It’s not like they get away with anything, it’s just that they exist… well i guess every society has some shitty people. I dunno,  let’s not get into it.” Carl was concerned but not shocked in the slightest. He didn’t think anything the saviors did was shocking anymore. Well, except for having a daycare.

 

“So, why don’t we get y’all some breakfast?” Teresa switched the subject quickly, and Carl sat down on the bed, pulling Judith into his lap.

 

“Sounds good. Who’s watching the kids now? Like, since you’re gone” He asked, only fumbling with his words for a second.

 

“My assistant, Marisol. You can meet her when we go downstairs, but i would get through with the introductions quick, Negan seemed like he has a  job for you. Once again paraphrasing. I bet you’re gonna have  _ oodles  _ of fun.” She ended the statement sarcastically.

 

“Pft, yeah, I bet.” Carl joked as he fixed Judith’s socks and put on her shoes that sat on the floor by the bed.

 

As they walked down stairs and through the hallway, Carl let Judith walk by herself and held her hand. She had to get used to walking instead of being carried around all the time like a purse-chihuahua (although she made an adorable accessory). Teresa and Carl talked about Judith and things that should be known. Judith hates apples and milk, loves peanut butter and bananas. Don’t try and brush her hair, she will probably bite you. Don’t interrupt her when she’s babbling, she takes it as a personal insult. Follow those rules and  _ then _ she is quiet and happy.

 

When they got to the kids’ room Carl saw that it was larger than his cell of a bedroom and crudely painted pink with green grass drawn on the wall with neon paint. Though, you could still see that is was a concrete room, the floor had padded puzzle piece like things that you would see in a real daycare. There was a fridge next to a single countertop with a microwave and table in one corner, and boxes of toys and stuffed animals in the other.

 

Marisol was tan and had a short dark brown pixie cut, she was cutting up  bananas when Carl walked in. Judith waddled over to play with a little boy who looked a bit younger than her. Not one bit shy. Weird. Carl talked with Marisol and Teresa while they made breakfast for the kids. There was five of them, two looked about judith’s age and the other Carl didn’t really want to leave, but he hoped Judith was in good hands. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and left, eating a sandwich as he walked back upstairs.

 

Teresa told him where the bathroom was (same floor his room was on, only a few doors down) and he headed back upstairs.It was weird to walk the sanctuary’s halls so casually, seeing how last time he was here he was treated like a polite haustage. He took a look at the clothes he was handed only to see a plain grey t-shirt and Jeans.

 

When Carl got to the bathroom he finally got a look in the mirror. Jesus he looked like shit. His hair was greasy and tangled, his shirt was covered in sweat and dirt, and overall he just looked… tired. To contrast, the bathroom was decently clean and all white. It probably didn’t get much use because there didn’t seem to be many people on this floor.

 

Stepping into the shower, Carl took a moment to just lean his head against the wall and relax, trying to let the water wash away all the stress of his current situation. Nope. That shit didn’t work. He ended up leaning there until the water ran cold.

 

After washing his hair thoroughly with a travel size shampoo he found in the soap tray, Carl stepped out of the shower, clean and equally stressed as he was when he went in. He stood in front of the mirror and brushed through his hair with his fingers. He noticed a blow dryer plugged in next to the mirror (convenient) and decided that going anywhere with wet hair would be awkward and uncomfortable. He knew how it worked, he had blowdried his hair dozens of times back home. Long hair takes too long to dry.

 

When he put on the clothes, he found that the jeans fit (He consciously ignored the fact that they were definitely high waisted girls jeans). The gray shirt, however, was labeled an XL and seeing how Carl was well below that, the shirt was huge on him. The sleeves were too long and went down awkwardly to his elbows, so he made the decision to fold them up halfway. He pushed his bangs in front of his eye socket, since his bandage disappeared. Looking in the mirror, Carl decided that this was as good as it was gonna get.

 

Carl was walking back towards his room and getting a good look at everything when he saw Negan coming out of the stairwell. The older man locked eyes with him and  smiled.

 

“Well shit, Pretty Woman, you clean up nice.” Negan said, walking over to Carl.”Shirt’s a bit big though.” he cocked his head to the side.

 

“Yeah, thanks for the clothes i guess” Carl felt odd thanking Negan for anything, and he didn’t understand whatever stupid thing Negan was referencing with that so called ‘compliment’.

 

“It’s nothin’ kid, I can’t have you walking around here lookin’ like shit.” Carl narrowed his eyebrows at the man.

 

“Yeah,  _ I’m  _ the one that looks like shit.” Carl replied boldly, not knowing whether or not he should regret that comment. 

 

“Ouch, my feelings! Someone’s sassy today.” Nagan said, stepping a little bit too close into Carl’s personal space. Carl just looked up at him, holding his ground. Negan’s eyes softened a little, and he took on a more serious tone.

 

“Listen kid, I get it if you want some time to lay around and be depressed or however you wanna mourn, you just lost a lot, but if you don’t plan on any of that crap today i’m going with a team to set up a new base about an hour from here. You can come help.” Negan was even more  _ painfully  _ aware of how close he was to the porcelain boy.

 

Carl barely thought about it for a second before deciding that it would be good to keep himself busy, you know what they say: repress your feeling so that no one knows you’re hurt.(Wait, is that what they say) “Yeah, I wanna go. What’s the base for?” he asked.

 

Negan leaned away a bit before responding “It  _ was _ some huge booshie private school in the woods, well covered, trees, big pointy-ass fence. We’re going to use it as residential, move some people over there, keep valuables in the basement, make said-pointy-ass-fence better. We started cleaning it out last week, but there’s probably a few roamers lurking around, so we gotta keep going. I’m surprised that no other group found it before we did” 

 

“Sounds fun,” Carl deadpanned, “When are we leaving?” 

 

“Whenever I decide to carry my ass downstairs. Are you sure you wanna? Probably won’t be getting home ‘til past your bedtime.” Negan said, his voice lowering as he smirked. Visually confusing Carl.   
  
“I’m sure” 

  
  


There were three trucks of people driving with them to this outpost, two of which had several people in the flatbed. Negan had kicked some guy out of the passenger seat of the car he was driving so that Carl could sit next to him; but mainly it was because Negan didn’t want the random people in the other trucks flatbed squeezed in so close to the kid. It was crazy how much Negan wanted Carl to feel okay here. He wanted him to feel welcome, like was his home, even though that may be impossible And he lowkey didn’t want anyone feeling him up and freaking the boy out.

 

“So, if you’re the big boss, why are you going all the way out here to do grunt work?” Carl asked after a few minutes of silent driving. He rolled his window down just a bit and let the wind push his hair out of his face. Negan tried not to stare, but Carl looked stunning with his hair back.

 

“Well sweetheart, incase you didn’t notice, we have some walker-wielding fucks running around snuffing out entire outposts of people, and if any these guys spot ‘em while we’re out and about i’ll be there. Nobody who hasn’t already been cleared is allowed in or out of The Sanctuary while I’m gone either.” Negan said  focusing his eyes on the road, instead of the ametuer model next to him.

 

“Has anybody seen them since?” Carl asked quickly looking towards Negan.

 

“Not yet. They’ll pop up raising hell sometime soon though. We have a base that we think will be hit next, but i’m not sure. It’s only about 12 people, but if these freaks are tryna’ send us a message they’ll hit what they can get.” Negan replied, and Carl turned his head back to the window, thinking about everything except those people coming back.

 

But then, Carl started to think of just that. Specifically imagining who their leader was. Chaining him to the wall, kicking the shit out of him, burning him, cutting him up, punching him,  _ Hurting him _ ...or her. They could totally be a chick. Carl’s thoughts flooded with blood and gore as he practically fantasised about brutally murdering someone.

 

Negan took notice of Carl fading away, but didn’t bother to snap him out of it. Eventually they reached the paved trail leading to the large boarding school, farther down the path one of the guys in the other truck got out to unlock the large metal gate that seemed to surround the entire building and yard. Carl finally looked up and saw what was before them.

 

“Jesus. How many stories is it?” He asked, leaning forward to get a better look through the windshield.

 

“Four, plus a big-ass basement. It’s barely anything compared to The Sanctuary, but holy  _ fuck  _ imagine living there. It’s real nice despite the pests.”

 

“It’s bigger than any school I’ve seen.” Carl said, stepping out of the truck and looking around them.

 

“Well, in your defense kid, you didn’t get a chance to see that many.” Negan said, closing his door and walking to stand next to Carl.

 

“Touche”  He said with half of a laugh.

 

The other two trucks pulled up behind them, and Negan began barking orders, sending everyone to different sections of the fence to start moving and stacking concrete blocks that sat around the overgrown courtyard. He ended up calling for two more trucks of people to come and do the same.

 

“Rob! You have the lucky job of sitting right here for the next hour and waiting for the rest of our guys to show up so you can tell ‘em what to do.” The grungy man looked as if he wanted to protest having to sit there and wait, but bit his tongue.

 

“What am I doing?” Carl asked, changing his position so that he was leaning on the truck.

 

“ _ We  _ are gonna go inside, poke around and see what we can find~that’s what she said~Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some squishy, gray, skulls to relieve some stress on” Negan said the last part with a practice swing of Lucille in front of him.”Oh fuck, speakin’ of which, get your shit out of the back of my truck.”

 

“What?” Carl asked, confused by the order.

 

“Gun? Girly knife? In the back.” Negan said, gesturing towards the car and leaning towards Carl in a manner that just screamed ‘duh?’.

 

_ Ohhhh _ Carl thought. He walked quickly towards the back of the truck and had to stand on his toes to reach where his possessions sat in the middle. His gun still resided in its holster, and Carl wrapped it around his thigh where it belonged, sticking theknife through a belt loop on his hip.

 

Negan forced himself  _ not _ to think about anything having to do with Carl’s thighs in that moment. Maybe later.

 

The two walked up to the front doors, both of which were chained together and had a large lock on it. Negan whipped a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, yanking of the chains and pulling one squeaky door open.

 

“After you, princess.” Negan smiled in that asshole-y way that made Carl want to hit hit in the face. Regardless, Carl walked inside first, glaring at Negan on his way in. Negan liked how bold the kid was with his snubs and sass.

 

It was dark, but the light coming in through the windows illuminated most of the room. Carl could see a large school crest printed onto the floor, even though it was somewhat hidden by grime. There was a bathroom door on one side, right next to what looked like the main office.

 

“How did you guys clean it out last time?” Carl asked, sure that they wouldn’t have taken the time to go room to room killing every walker they found. That would be a stupid strategy.

 

“I had some guys stand out here and make a fuck-ton of noise until all the dead were out here looking for their munchies. Then went off on ‘em firing squad style. Had all of em out in half an hour.” Negan said, heading for an ajar door labelled ‘ **STAFF STAIRCASE** ’ on the left side of the large room. “Course there’s bound to be some grody-ass stragglers somewhere in here.”

 

As they walked upstairs,Carl wondered why Negan even needed to move people out of the sanctuary. Maybe they were running out of space? He supposed that the reason didn’t really matter, maybe Negan just wanted to own as much ground as possible. Speaking of Negan, he gestured for Carl to be quiet and walked in front of him to open the door leading out of the stairwell to what Carl could assume was the second floor. They stepped out into a hallway with dark gray tile (Only a few congealed blood stains marked the floors) and tan walls that were mostly covered in black metal lockers. A ew doors stood on each side. So,Carl thought, this is what a highschool looks like.

 

“I guarantee we could find some weed in at least one of these bad boys.”Negan said as he whacked Lucille against one of the lockers, successfully snapping Carl out of his mini-daze. He wasn’t scared by the loud noise, but he would admit that he jumped a bit at the violent sound. He composed himself quickly, regardless.

 

“Pft, yeah...where to?” He said, gesturing to the vacant hallway.

 

“Wow, no savoring the sight for you, huh?” Negan said jokingly. “You check in the classrooms on the right, I’ll do the left. Don’t waste any fuckin’ bullets either, you gotta work sparingly with what you got now that i’m supplying all your shit.”

“Got it, but wouldn’t this go a lot faster if there were more people?” Carl said with salt. Negan smiled and took a step towards the younger, leaning in his direction.

“Nah darling, this is our bonding time. What you don’t like spending time with me?” His voice switched from sultry to sarcastic without skipping a beat.

Carl felt his stomach tense up with nervousness as Negan spoke, but pushed any...less than  pure thoughts out of his mind. Instead, he scoffed. “Aw, no. I wouldn’t trade our time together for the world.” He squinted his eyes and smiled snarkily, before turning away to check the classroom behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyeeee. Hi. I'm back after a 5 month hiatus :) sorry for the wait, i had finals and then absolutely no motivation to write over the summer. Now that schools back on, i need a creative outlet again. Thank you to all the people who like this story and want to keep reading it! I'm going to try to update weekly, but there is no set schedule yet. Feel free to bully me if you catch me slacking on updates lol.


	4. Bruised knuckles

Chapter Four

Opening the door Carl saw nothing but stray papers and the occasional book littering the room. It wasn’t until the last room that he actually found a walker, it was a man in a disheveled blue janitor's uniform. It sat on the floor against the wall looking frail, as if it had been starved for a long time. Carl quickly approached it with his knife and before the corpse could even reach for him, he was out. Carl noticed the name on the jumpsuit. “Sorry, Warren.” He deadpanned.

 

By the time they had gotten to the 3rd floor, Carl’s watch read 11 o’clock and out the window Negan could see a nice concrete wall starting to form. It was nowhere near finished, but a few more trips here and it’d be done. The entire 3rd floor was comprised of the cafeteria, library, gym, all of which seemed to be evenly split, and two bathrooms. The pair found the library doors closed, and to their surprise, the inside looked almost untouched by the chaos outside.

 

To Carl it was amazing. It was the size of his old public library, but nicer. The carpet was the hard blue-green that most schools had, but the walls were stark white in contrast to the black shelves that lined them.

 

“How about a break?” Carl suggested, lowering his gun and walking farther into the room, running his hand across one a navy-blue armchair.

 

Negan looked at Carl curiously, before casually walking along next to him. “Sure, why the hell not.” He swung Lucille behind him and onto his shoulders, resting his arms there.

 

Carl sped up his pace and walked between the rows of bookshelves and computer desks, looking both ways to quickly double check that there were no stray walkers. The very last aisle of shelves, carl noticed, had what looked like graphic novels, comic books and magazines. He ran his fingers over the stacks of comics only to pick out one he’d never seen or read before. _Spiderman: New Ways to Die._ As he flipped to the first page, Negan stood in a separate aisle labelled _‘Horror’,_ looking at a book he had read a long time ago. _“Silence of the lambs”._ He couldn’t remember why he had liked it so much, but he still skimmed the pages for a few minutes before going to irritate Carl. Negan walked over to the aisle that the other has loitering in for so long, and saw the boy leaning against a bookshelf, his eye trained on a comic book in his hands. Carl looked up at him for less than a second and looked back down at the pages. Negan walked over and leaned on the shelf across from him and tilted his head to the side as he watched Carl read.

 

“What? Ready to go?” Carl asked without looking up. Negan scoffed.

 

“Nah, I’m just enjoying the view.”

 

“Break’s over I guess.” Carl sighed, narrowing his eyes as he closed the comic book, putting it back on the shelf and beginning to walk away before Negan spoke up.

 

“Ya know, if you wanna keep that you can just take it, right?” Negan smiled and quirked his brow.

 

“Not enough room to carry it,” Carl shrugged, “Besides, I’m not eight years old. I’m over comic books.” He walked around the elder, and headed for the double doors.

 

Negan half laughed, half scoffed at this comment, quickly turning to face Carl’s back “Sure, that’s why you were so pissy when you put it down.” Carl ignored him and gestured for Negan to follow without turning back to look at him _. ‘Not enough room to carry it’ my ass_ Negan thought as he unzipped his jacket, picking up the comic and folding it in half to fit in his inside pocket. _That brat better thank me for this._ He zipped up his jacket and jogged to catch up to Carl. 

 

 

The double doors of the cafeteria, unlike those of the library, were open and the room showed signs of wear and tear. The tables had been folded into the closed position and moved in a way that resembled a makeshift fort, as is someone had been there. The doors to the kitchen area was also open. As the two walked through said doors, they were greeted with a huge mess. Any type of cooking tool weighing less that 50lbs was knocked onto the floor, there was blood spatters and smears on the stainless-steel ovens, and 7 dead lunch-lady walkers laying in various places around the cramped room.

 

“God damnit,” Negan said, “I was really looking forward to having a proper fuckin’ kitchen.” He poked a corpse in the face with Lucille, before casually stepping over it, doing the same with each one he passed.

 

Carl scoffed, “Why? Are your wives complaining about your kitchen size?” He said sarcastically. “Probably not the only thing of unsatisfactory size.”

 

“Ouch! Was that supposed to be an insult? Oh Carl, you wound me.” He said, smirking over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll find everything of mine is of _very_ satisfactory size, but I don’t feel like getting kinky in front of these gals at the moment. The sanctuary’s kitchen is fine, but if any of this crap ended up being better than the appliances we have, I could haul it over there and switch ‘em out.”

 

“Well they probably still work. A little blood couldn’t mess them up _that_ bad.” Carl responded, ignoring the first half of his statement.

 

“Yeah, but these are only a bit newer than the other ones we got. It would be nowhere near fuckin’ worth it to clean this place out, bleach the ovens, and then move the bitches downstairs into the truck for only a ten percent improvement in quality.” They approached a sealed off metal door that could only be a freezer.

 

“Yeah, that seems like a waste of energy now that you say it like that.” Carl pushed the body lying in front of the freezer door out of the way and Negan opened the door. The air was just barely chilly, and Carl would assume that’s only because of the fact that it was insulated. The entire room smelled like rotten meat and old compost.

 

“ _Fuck,_ I don’t know what the hell I expected to find. Even if the backup generator hadn’t shut down over six fuckin’ years ago anything in here would’ve been completely freezer burnt.” Negan said, only slightly irritated, as he poked around in the large bags of previously-frozen food. Carl didn’t know what was worse, the smell of it rotting or actually seeing what the containers of school lunch looked like. He expected better quality from some type of private school.

 

“Don’t you have a farm you get all of your food from anyways? Do you actually need this stuff all that much?” Carl said, stepping out of the freezer behind Negan.

 

“I _did_ have one. The hilltop was our second most provider of food. Lake Forest is our top provider. I have a solid third of all my men there keeping an eye on it. If we lose them we’re screwed and not in the fun way.” Negan sounded actually worried about the potential loss, as if this group was actually scaring him.

 

“How many other communities are you actually partnered with?” Carl asked. He didn’t know that there were more than the few groups he knew of.

 

“Three now. There’s Lake Forest and two other scavenging groups, all of whom joined this partnership voluntarily and happily, I may add.” Negan said as they walked around and then back out of the cafeteria.

 

Carl stayed silent in response to Negan’s las comment. In fact, he wanted to forget about anything having to do with his family. He didn’t need all of that holding him and Judith back from trying to enjoy their ‘ _new life’_ at the sanctuary.

 

The gym was posed the say way the library had been, untouched by the chaos outside and mostly clean- or, as clean as a gymnasium could be. Negan said that he would have some people come and bust open all of the lockers to see if they’d find anything of use. After the gym, the pair made their way upstairs a final time to the top floor. It consisted of very large fine arts classrooms, a principal’s office, and a staff room. Every room was empty and clean, surprisingly enough, except for the principal’s office. It was a decently large room with an attached bathroom and a large desk that faces away from 4 large windows. The third of which was shattered, small tree branches and even a bird had gotten in. Dirty paper that must’ve fallen from the desk scattered the floor like a second layer of carpet.

 

“I guess we gotta cover this window next visit… even though it’s gonna look fuckin’ ugly.” Negan walked over to the broken window and leaned on the small ledge that was free of broken glass. Carl followed suit and leaned his head out, enjoying the pristine breeze that hit his face. Negan looked out over the men working on the wall. They were probably 100 feet away, but Negan noticed two of them were sitting down in the grass chatting it up.

 

“If you two fuckers don’t get back to work I’ll be forced to walk my ass all the way back down there to bust your fucking skulls into that fresh concrete!” Negan yelled, his voice projecting off of the sparse trees. The pair stood up and anxiously jogged towards the front of the building, presumably to get more cinderblocks. Carl just barely chuckled at how they scurried away, but quickly stopped when Negan looked at him.

 

“Pfft, what? You think me bossing people around is funny, princess?” Negan joked, but Carl quickly withdrew, stepping away from the window and opting to lean against the desk.

 

“Don’t call me that.” He said with complete seriousness, Negan turned to face him and Carl tilted his head to look up at him.

 

Negan smirked, turning his head. “Oh, strike a nerve, did I?”

 

Carl leaned backward a bit more, holding the end of the table. “No, I just don’t think you’re pet names are fucking funny.”

 

Negan raised his eyebrows nodded, before putting his hands on the desk behind Carl and leaning in. “That’s some bold fucking language coming out of your mouth, kid.” He turned his head and met Carl’s gaze. “Would you prefer if I called you _prince_?”

 

With that, Carl balled his fist and punched upward, successfully hitting Negan in the bottom of his jaw.

 

Oh fuck,

 

Negan was surprisingly shaken by the hit, it had pushed him back a foot or two, but mostly out of shock. “Damn! That actually kinda fuckin’ hurt!” He said, rubbing his hand over his jawline. “I should probably be real pissed off by that little attack, but I’m more impressed that you can pack that good of a punch!”

 

All the while Carl stood there, staring half wide-eyed at Negan. He felt he should say something, at least argue that Negan was being a dick, but he would rather jump out of the open window than apologize or beg forgiveness. His main thought was still in the front of his head, _Ohhh fuck._

Negan started up again. “Honestly? I’m less concerned about my face and more fuckin’ worried about your knuckles.” He chuckled, only then did Carl notice that he had grabbed Lucille somewhere in his scuffle. Negan leaned and tilted his head towards Carl’s ear. “Now before you make any more stupid impulsive decisions, lets head downstairs.”

 

When Negan pulled away Carl finally blinked and let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. He wasn’t scared. If anything, he had just been… waiting for something to happen. To get some type of punishment. He was waiting for Negan to hit him back, or anything that would make Negan seem more like the piece of shit, horrible monster that he remembered. But looking back, Negan hadn’t done anything truly horrible to him… directly. Carl had murdered two of Negan’s soldiers, and held a gun on him, but the worst penalization he’d gotten was just being scared. Meanwhile, a person who broke just one of the dictator’s rules got a fucking iron to the face? It didn’t make any sense.

 

“Come the fuck on all ready kid! Jesus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this is a short chapter :/ sorry for the long ass wait again, but at least i got it out in less than 5 months this time! I would also like to point out that (while irrelevant) Carl is wearing high waisted jeans. why? Because boys in high waisted jeans is my fuckig FETISH. 
> 
> Back on topic, i'm not sure when the next update will be, BUT i'm going to try to have it out quicker than this one was ;]
> 
> now hopefully we won't go on another hiatus.


	5. Time Out

After checking on the ongoing wall construction, Negan and Carl walked back toward the car, but as they got farther away, Negan heard static coming from his walkie. He sighed.

“Trouble in paradise, as usual. People just can’t stand it when I’m not there.” Negan said, smiling towards the younger. Negan had to walk around the courtyard a moment to break through the static, while Carl leaned against a tree waiting, going back into a state of annoyed contemplation thinking about why the hell Negan let him off so easy. He eventually chalked it up to Negan possibly feeling… bad for him? Maybe Carl had tapped into a frozen well of empathy deep inside Negan’s cold, dead, soul. It still sounds a bit farfetched. Then again, he did display signs of remote sympathy when Carl and Judith firs arrived at the sanctuary. Carl looked over at him, 20 feet away, trying to find a gap in the trees for the radio to gain some traction. Maybe the asshole wasn’t a sociopath. All of a sudden, he heard Negan yelling.

“How long have you had ‘em? Two Fucking hours? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me sooner!” Negan barked, Carl craned his neck to the side to meet Negan’s gaze, Seeing Carl’s confused and curious expression he swiftly walked his way towards the boy and their truck.

“So!? If you had half of a goddamn brain you’d drive your fat ass over here and tell me personally! You think I’m too fucking busy wavin’ my dick around over here to come home for something I Spe-fuking-ifically told you to notify me about under any circumstances!” as Negan passed him, he grabbed Carl harshly by the shoulder and turned him around towards the car. “Hello? HELLO? Fuck!” He shouted, hurrying his pace toward the car.

“What? What’s going on? Carl urged, but Negan didn’t respond until they were in the car and they keys were turning.

“Those assholes? That fucked up Alexandria and The Hilltop? We caught two of them lurking in the woods near The Sanctuary, and the motherfucking idiots couldn’t get in touch with me, so they decided to jus twiddle their thumbs for almost three fuckin’ hours instead of finding another way to reach me.” Each one of Negan’s words had a sharp bite to them, and he gripped his hand’s around the steering wheel as tight as he could, before making a U turn out of the front driveway.

Carl paused not knowing what to say. He felt speechless for a moment, but was pulled out of his trance by the tires screeching against the road.

“What are we going to do with them?”

“We pretty boy, aren’t going to be doing shit. You are still on probation for that pathetic hit to the jaw you gave me earlier. I Am going to go and have a very polite conversation with them about the morals of their fuckin’ crew.” Negan pushed down a small portion of his anger in an effort to keep some type of façade up in front of the kid.

“What? No that isn’t fucking fair! I have a right to be there after what they did!”

“Wow Carl, you better cut the whining. That shit isn’t cute. Regardless, you don’t get a fuckin’ say, you’re sitting this one out, and if you think for a second that acting like a moody child is gonna change that you’re mighty fuckin’ mistaken.”

“But I…” Carl stopped himself. He was pissed off and anxious, but even though his emotions he knew he sounded like an obnoxious teen. If he wanted to get anywhere on Negan’s social hierarchy, and get a chance to have his turn with Negan’s prisoners, he’d have to comply.

“I’m… sorry. You’re right.” Carl said through gritted teeth, turning his attention to the window on his right.

“Hmph. Didn’t expect you to cave so quickly, kid.”

“Would you have given in if I had kept ‘whining’?” Carl said, keeping his voice distant.

“Definitely not.”

By the time they got to The Sanctuary Negan’s temper had risen once again. As their truck pulled in through the gates, Negan practically jumped from the vehicle while it was still moving, Carl hopped out and sped around the vehicle to follow Negan inside, just barely running into the man. Negan grabbed his forearm roughly.

“You are going to your room, and you are going to stay there.” He said seriously, looking Carl directly in the eye. Carl turned his head to the side and smirked.

“Of course, sir.”

Negan narrowed his eyes at Carl before letting go of his arm.

“Nicky!” Negan called over his shoulder to an older blonde girl in a black denim jacket.

“Yes sir?” She replied, quickly making her way to him.

“Make sure Carl gets to his room.” He handed her a key. “Lock the door and get him something from the kitchen, will ya.”

She didn’t have a chance to respond before Negan had left, heading towards the door.

“What? You in trouble ‘r something?” Nicky asked, as the two walked slowly inside towards the upstairs.

“No. He just thinks I’m lying when I said I’d stay in my room.”

“Pffft! What are you, eight? Are you in timeout?” She elbowed him, somehow both rude and bubbly at the same time, and Carl wondered why the hell she was outside with all of those makeshift bodyguards. “Nah I’m just kiddin’. You seem cool. I like your face.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Carl said dismissively, he noticed that, while she did look young, she also had dark circles under her eyes and miscellaneous scratches and blisters on her hands.

“Ok, moody. What do you want to eat?”

“Anything.”

Carl didn’t want to be rude or make enemies with anybody, but he just wanted to get to his room and lay dow- Wait. He remembered Judith. If he was going to be locked in his room for however long, he might as well have his best friend there.

“My sister is with Teresa in the daycare, can we go get her?” Carl asked cutting through the odd silence.

“Sorry, nope. Negan said you’re in timeout, so you’re in timeout. I’ll tell T-mama to bring your sis to your room later.”

“It’s not a timeout” Carl snapped at her a bit before taking a small breath. “Thanks.”

When they got to his room, Nicky opened the door for him, and the second he was inside she closed it. The sound of her key in the lock seemed to echo in his head for a moment, and he stared blankly at the door. Why didn’t he fight Negan’s decision? Maybe if he had just shown some real determination he would’ve see that Carl genuinely needed to be there. What if Negan kills them? What if Carl never gets his chance to meet two of the people that killed his family? What if this is how Negan will handle the rest of their group when they’re found, will he just lock Carl up in his room and tell him to behave? His thoughts ran through his head at a mile a minute. With an aggravated groan, Carl rubbed his hand over his forehead and sat down on the bed.

He took a moment to examine his hand, and it was nowhere near bruised. His knuckles were a bit red, and when he rubbed them they felt like rubber, a familiar feeling of damaged cartilage.

  
Meanwhile, Negan was on the second floor, about to enter the industrial closet where the two men sat. He took his time, waiting outside for a moment to gain some needed composure, before knocking on the metal door to the traditional sing-song tune. He walked inside taking a look at the two captives.

“Wow. Are you kidding me right now? Am I getting’ bamboozled or some shit?” Negan laghed, looking at the men. Observing them.

The one on the left was a blubbering mess. He was pale, skinny and had short cropped hair, but a blond beard. He looked feverish and was sweating buckets, it almost hid the fact that he was crying. To add to his pathetic look, the whites of his eyes were red and irritated. The other man was almost completely stoic, save for his quivering hands. He was tanner and more muscular, with his dark hair tied into a ponytail.

“See man, I’m gonna be honest with you right now.” He squatted down and looked the blond in his face. “You look so fucking pathetic right now. Now, here’s the thing. I was planning on walking in here, scaring the piss out of you for a few, and then offer you a deal in exchange for information. Buy after seeing this goddamn tragedy, I’ve decided that I don’t want to do any type of business with a pussy like you. But, since I’m so goddamn nice, I’m gonna give you a minute to calm down. In the meantime, I’m gonna offer that deal to your calm and collected friend over here.” Negan directed his attention over to the other man.

“Hey, buddy. What’s your name?” He said, cocking his head to the side, only to be given back silence “Aw. That’s okay. I like it when they play hard to get.” He added, standing up and getting Lucille comfortable in his hands. “Here’s the deal. I’m going to kill one of you. That’s definite. But you two get to decide which one of you it is! Whichever one of you assholes wants to answer a few of my questions, gets to live to see another day.”

Other than a few sniffles, Negan once again was met with silence. He had expected the sniffler to jump at an opportunity to save his own life, but wasn’t surprised that it would take a bit more to break him. He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Okay then.” He said with a sigh, turning away for a moment, before quickly spinning around and slamming Lucille over the crybaby’s head, narrowly missing it and slamming into the wall. The man jumped with a shriek and tried to suppress his growing sobs.

“She’s going to get you.” Said the dark-haired man on Negan’s right.

“Excuse me?” Negan replied, turning slowly to face the man.

“I said that she’s going to get you. She’s going to slowly kill off all your goddamn people, until it’s just you left. All alone. No lackeys to protect you. And then she’s going to throw you to the biters.” He looked up at Negan with a forced smirk.

Negan cocked his head and chuckled, not showing that he wanted more information.

“Wowie. I am shaking in my fucking boots. If you don’t mind me asking, who exactly is this boogey-woman you think so goddamn highly of?” The man instantly shut back down, realizing his mistake, and directing his attention back on the concrete floor in front of him. “And the crowd falls silent.”

  
Carl stared down at the plate that was brought to him a few minutes before. He was somewhere between confused and amused. In his lap was a white plate, covered in sauerkraut that looked like it had been flattened down. The kicker was: hamburger cut pickles arranged in a smiley face on top. What the actual hell? When he said ‘anything’ an hour ago, he expected to get a crappy sandwich, or an apple. Not... Whatever this was. But regardless, he was hungry, and proceeded to reluctantly go at the dish with his spoon. 

Just as he ate the pickles off the top of his cuisine, the door opened, and there stood the asshole who put Carl in time-out. He put down the plate and stood up quickly, walking towards Negan quickly. Power play? Maybe.

“What’s happening?” he asked, before the taller man was able to speak. Negan pushed Carl farther into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Ya know what kid, I don’t think unlike this newfound superiority you’ve got. I might go as far to say you’ve been sassing me.” Before Carl could respond, he was interrupted. “Nothing happened, yet. Those goddamn babies haven’t given me anything of value. I want you to come downstairs with moi and take out some aggression on the shits.”

“What do you mean, ‘nothing of value’, they either told you something or not?”

“Not. One of them is a huge pussy. Won't stop crying.” Negan leaned back on the door slightly. “THE other is pissing me off. Loose lips, yet he’s still trying to act big and bad. I figured that he’ll be a bit more scared of the psycho kid who just watched his home get destroyed and has quite the axe to grind.”

“So,” Carl paused, “You’re just gonna turn me loose on these fuckers?”

“Come on kid, language! And yes.”

 

 

 **I'm back UwU** **** **** ****sorry for the,,, seven month break haha. I'm SorryyyySORRY. Have this short homecoming chapter : >

 


End file.
